A  NATION  IN  THE  LOOM. 


The  Scandinavian  Fibre  in  Our  Social  Fabric. 


f\t)  ^ddrcss 


BY 


REV.  R.  A.  JERNBERG 


At  his  Inauguration  as  Professor  in  the  Danish-Norwegian 
Department  on  Mrs/  D.  K.  Pearsons’  Professorship 
Endowment  in  the  Chicago  Theological 

Seminary, 


WITH 


THE  CHARGE. 


By  President  H.  C.  SIMMONS. 


PU3LISHED  BY  VOTE  OF  THE  BOARD  OF  DIRECTORS. 


CHICAGO: 

P.  F.  Pettibone  &  Co.,  Printers, 
189;. 


A  NATION  IN  THE  LOOM. 


The  Scandinavian  Fibre  in  Our  Social  Fabric. 

^9  jTddress 


REV.  R.  A.  JERNBERG 


At  his  Inauguration  as  Professor  in  the  Danish-Norwegian 
Department  on  Mrs.  D.  K.  Pearsons’  Professorship 
Endowment  in  the  Chicago  Theological 

Seminary, 


WITH 


THE  CHARGE. 

By  President  H.  C.  SIMMONS. 


PUBLISHED  BY  VOTE  OF  THE  BOARD  OF  DIRECTORS. 


CHICAGO: 

P.  F.  Petti  bone  &  Co.,  Printers, 
1*95. 


1 


SERVICES  OF  INAUGURATION. 


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The  services  of  the  inauguration  of  Professors  R.  A. 
Jernberg  and  W.  B.  Chamberlain  took  place  on  Monday 
evening,  April  15,  1895,  in  the  First  Congregational  Church, 
Chicago,  Ill.  The  President  of  the  Seminary,  Rev.  Frank¬ 
lin  W.  Fisk,  D.D.,  LL.D.,  presided. 

The  Program  was  as  follows: 

1.  Organ  Voluntary,  “  Benediction.’’ 

2.  Te  Deum  in  B  minor,  Solos,  Quartet  and  Chorus. 

3.  Invocation  and  Reading  of  Scripture,  by  Rev.  G.  S.  F. 

Savage,  D.D. 

4.  Hymn,  “  I  Love  Thy  Kingdom,  Lord.” 

5.  Declaration  of  Faith,  by  Professor  Jernberg. 

0.  Charge  to  Professor  Jernberg,  by  President  H.  C. 
Simmons. 

7.  Inaugural  Prayer,  by  Professor  G.  N.  Boardman, 

D.D.,  LL.D. 

8.  Address,  by  Professor  Jernberg. 

9.  Hymn,  “  America.” 

10.  Declaration  of  Faith,  by  Professor  Chamberlain. 

11.  Charge  to  Professor  Chamberlain,  by  Rev.  James 

Gibson  Johnson,  D.D. 

12.  Inaugural  Prayer,  by  President  Franklin  W.  Fisk, 

D.D.,  LL.D. 

13.  Address,  by  Professor  Chamberlain. 

14.  Anthem,  “Send  out  Thy  Light. ” 

15.  Benediction. 

10.  Postlude,  “Prelude  and  Fugue.” 


I 


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in  2018  with  funding  from 
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https://archive.org/details/nationinloomscanOOjern 


THE  CHARGE. 


Professor  Jernberg : 

It  is  with  pleasure  I  am  permitted  to  give  to  you 
to-night  a  few  words  of  what  is  technically  called  a  “  charge." 

Perhaps  more  than  any  other  I  am  responsible  for  setting 
in  motion  the  forces  that  caused  you  to  come  to  this  semi¬ 
nary  for  your  last  year's  course  of  theological  training,  and 
begin  while  yet  a  theological  student  the  work  of  instruction 
in  the  department  over  which  to-night  you  are  inaugurated 
a  professor  in  this  Seminary. 

Two  summers  we  had  you  in  North  Dakota,  while  yet  a 
student  in  theology,  and  we  feel  a  little  proud  that  our 
young  State  proves  so  good  a  place  to  discover  and  develop 
the  qualities  that  make  a  good  professor  in  a  Theological 
Seminary.  You  are  the  second  we  have  fitted  for  such  a. 
position,  as  Professor  Gillette  of  Hartford  was  called 
directly  from  a  North  Dakota  pastorate  at  Grand  Forks, 
We  feel  like  saying  to  our  friends:  Send  us  the  men  for  our 
churches  and  we  will  send  you  back  professors  for  your 
Theological  Seminaries,  Presidents  for  colleges,  State 
Superintendents  for  the  Home  Missionary  Society,  and  for 
our  Sunday  School  Society;  for  we  have  furnished  men  for 
all  these  positions. 

Having  discovered  you,  I  have  always  felt  a  deep  interest 
in  you  and  in  the  work  to  which  you  have  been  called.  The 
people  whom  you  represent,  and  for  whom  this  department 
is  founded,  are  a  most  interesting  people,  and  destined  to 
have  a  very  great  influence  upon  the  future  of  our  great 
Northwestern  States.  In  North  Dakota,  seventy  per  cent 


6 


THE  CHARGE. 


of  our  people  are  of  Scandinavian  origin.  In  "Wisconsin, 
Minnesota,  Iowa,  the  Dakotas,  and  on  to  the  Pacific  Ocean, 
these  sturdy  people  from  the  north  of  Europe,  of  Protestant 
faith,  of  industrious  and  frugal  life,  form  a  large  element  in 
the  population.  Strong  in  body,  accustomed  to  hardships, 
readily  falling  into  our  American  ways  of  thought  and  life, 
they  make  the  very  best  of  American  citizens.  Through 
our  public  schools  and  other  influences  these  people  are 
becoming  one  with  us  in  all  that  makes  citizenship.  Thou¬ 
sands  of  them  are  beginning  to  feel  that  our  American 
churches  are  sure  to  gather  in  their  young  people,  if  they 
are  kept  in  line  with  religious  work.  They  feel  that  there 
is  something  lacking  in  the  Old  Country  churches.  The 
life  and  movement  is  different.  They  attend  our  Sunday 
Schools  and  our  evening  meetings.  They  sing  our  songs; 
and  their  young  people  mingle  with  ours  in  the  Y.  P.  S.  C.  E. 

In  one  of  our  North  Dakota  towns  where  this  work  had 
been  going  on  in  connection  with  one  of  our  churches,  a 
former  pastor  of  the  English  Lutheran  Church  in  Fargo 
visited  these  people,  and  told  them  that  they  must  withdraw 
their  children  from  our  Sunday  School,  and  withdraw 
from  our  evening  service  and  hold  one  of  their  own  in 
English.  While  they  obeyed  him  for  a  little  while,  in  less 
than  a  month  the  children  were  back  in  our  Sunday  School, 
and  the  people  back  to  our  service. 

These  people  like  the  freedom  and  simplicity  of  our 
Congregational  Churches.  As  earnest  Christians  to-day 
the  world  over  care  less  and  less  to  be  known  as  followers 
of  John  Robinson,  or  John  Calvin,  or  John  Wesley,  or 
John  Knox,  however  glorious  and  worthy  of  honor  are  these 
men,  but  rather  to  be  known  as  disciples  of  Jesus  Christ,  so 
these  people  will  care  less  and  less  to  be  known  by  the  name 
of  the  great  and  intrepid  reformer  of  the  16tli  century,  but 
rather  by  that  name  above  every  name,  which  makes  us  all 
brethren,  marching  under  one  banner  and  bent  on  executing 


THE  CHARGE.  i 

the  commission  the  Master  left  us, — to  conquer  the  world 
for  Him. 

My  brother:  From  this  great  northern  belt  of  states, 
where  these  your  people  live,  if  I  mistake  not,  are  to  come 
the  strongest  type  of  men  into  the  great  centers  of  life  of 
this  nation.  By  their  sturdy  manhood  they  are  to  give 
a  vigor  and  moral  tone  that  is  needed  in  these  great  centers 
of  power.  If  you  will  train  and  send  out  from  this  Semi¬ 
nary  preachers  of  the  Gospel  of  Christ  among  these  people, 
who  shall  hold  up  the  Gospel  in  its  simplicity  and  yet  in 
demonstration  of  the  Spirit  and  with  power  from  God,  you 
will  not  only  do  a  work  for  your  countrymen  that  will  be 
welcomed  by  them,  and  will  result  in  bringing  them 
and  us  nearer  together  as  a  people,  but  a  work  for  our 
country  that  needs  more  than  ever  to  be  done  now.  You 
will  help  to  make  the  nation’s  life  throb  with  the  pulsations 
of  a  faith  in  God  that  is  seen  to  be  the  foundation  of  a  great 
brotherhood  gathered  out  of  these  different  nationalities,  and 
made  one  by  the  breaking  down  of  dividing  barriers.  This, 
if  I  mistake  not,  is  the  mission  of  your  department  in  this 
Seminary:  Not  to  give  these  people  a  new  Gospel — they 
have  the  same  Gospel  with  us — but  to  bring  them  into  fel¬ 
lowship  and  co-operative  work  with  us  in  making  the  moral 
force  of  their  life  felt  with  ours,  in  keeping  this  nation  in 

the  way  of  righteousness,  and  of  faith  in  God.  This  de- 

#* 

partment  in  this  Seminary  may  yet  become  in  its  influence 
upon  the  religious  life  of  the  Northwest,  second  to  none  in 
the  results  achieved.  North  Dakota  perhaps  stands  first 
to-day  of  all  the  States,  in  its  successful  fight  in  overthrow¬ 
ing  the  power  of  the  open  saloon;  and  this  has  been 
achieved  largely  by  the  power  of  the  Scandinavian  vote 
which  is  on  the  side  of  law  and  order. 

Our  fathers  coming  over  the  sea  left  behind  them  in 
large  measure  the  forms  of  church  life  of  the  old  countries 
from  which  they  came,  but  they  kept  their  faith  in  God. 


8 


THE  CHARGE. 


They  shaped  for  themselves  the  forms  of  worship  as  they 
thought  best  adapted  for  the  conditions  of  their  new 
life.  They  drew  them  fresh  from  the  Divine  Word.  They 
have  built  up  for  themselves  and  for  us  a  church  life  and  a 
national  life,  that  have  grown  together  into  the  life  we  now 
have.  Shall  wTe  not  expect  that  coming  into  our  political 
and  social  life,  these  Scandinavian  peoples  will  also  readily 
assimilate  our  methods  of  religious  worship  and  work?  It  is 
ours  at  least  to  place  before  them  an  open  door  and  invite 
them  into  that  liberty,  that  equality,  that  fraternity  in 
Christian  life  and  doctrine,  which  as  a  people  it  has  been 
our  privilege  under  God  not  only  to  proclaim,  but  I  trust 
also  in  some  degree  to  make  real.  May  the  blessing  of  God 
be  with  you  in  this  work  and  upon  the  Seminary  of  which 
you  now  become  an  installed  professor. 


INAUGURAL  ADDRESS. 


A  NATION  IN  THE  LOOM. 

THE  SCANDINAVIAN  FIBRE  IN  OUR  SOCIAL  FABRIC. 

The  analysis  of  the  elements  that  enter  into  the  composi¬ 
tion  of  nations,  and  the  effect  of  their  combinations,  is  one 
of  the  most  fascinating  studies  in  universal  liistorv.  The 
loom  of  time  has  been  weaving  garments  for  this  old  world 
of  ours,  and  the  nations  of  the  earth  have  clothed  him  with 
the  glory  of  their  sons  and  daughters,  as  long  as  the  fibre  of 
their  manhood  or  womanhood  could  stand  the  wear.  When 
age  and  use  have  worn  them  thin,  and  the  strength  of  their 
fibre  has  passed  away,  the  cast-off  garments  have  been  flung 
to  the  rag-man,  old  Father  Time,  who  has  been  able  some¬ 
times  to  use  the  pieces  that  still  were  good  for  some  new 
robe  with  which  to  drape  the  captious  old  shoulders.  This 
is  history.  The  weaving  of  these  robes  must  never  cease, 
for  the  wearing  of  them  uses  them  up,  and  their  durability 
always  depends  on  the  stuff  out  of  which  they  are  made. 
The  latest  piece,  which  is  still  in  the  loom,  is  the  nation  into 
whose  texture  we  are  now  weaving  our  lives  and  characters, 
and  those  of  some  seventy  millions  more  of  all  kinds  of  men 
and  women.  Since  our  own  go  in  with  the  rest,  we  may  be 
pardoned  for  the  interest  which  some  of  us  feel  in  the  im¬ 
provement  of  the  fibre  from  which  the  nation  is  made,  and 
our  anxiety  that  it  be  of  the  right  kind.  Our  present  in¬ 
quiry  concerns  the  quality  of  a  part  of  our  social  fabric,  the 
Scandinavian  element  in  our  population.  What  has  been 
its  use  and  its  influence  in  the  older  nations,  and  by  what 
processes  does  it  find  its  place  in  the  new? 


10 


A  NATION  IN  THE  LOOM. 


The  world  was  old  and  had  worn  out  many  nations,  when 
out  of  the  north,  liberated  from  the  snow  and  ice  of  Ultima 
Thule,  there  came  the  Norseman  like  the  very  whirlwind 
from  his  frozen  home.  He  was  like  naught  that  the  world 
had  seen  in  all  the  ages  before  his  time.  His  joy  and  hap¬ 
piness  he  found  in  battle,  his  sweetest  pleasure  in  a  violent 
death,  for  only  through  this  portal  could  he  hope  to  enter 
the  company  of  heroes  who  dwelt  with  Odin  in  the  glory  of 
Valhalla,  and  there  continue  the  joys  of  earth  in  daily 
battles  and  nightly  feasting.  “Is  there  any  people,”  says 
Taine,  “Hindu,  Persian,  Greek  or  Gaelic  which  has  founded 
so  tragic  a  conception  of  life?  Is  there  any  which  has 
filled  its  infantine  mind  with  such  gloomy  dreams?  Is 
there  any  which  has  so  entirely  banished  the  sweetness 
from  enjoyment,  the  softness  from  pleasure.  Energy,  ten¬ 
acious  and  mournful  energy,  such  was  their  chosen  condi¬ 
tion.”  The  individuality  of  that  vigorous  race  stamped  its 
mark  upon  every  nation  which  it  conquered,  and  upon  eveiy 
institution  which  it  touched.  Scarcely  a  nation  in  the 
Europe  of  that  time  but  felt  their  influence,  and  scarcely 
one  on  the  continent  to-day  who  is  not  indebted  to  them.  But 
the  influence  which  the  Scandinavians  had  upon  the  Anglo- 
Saxon  race  can  be  traced  more  clearly  still  than  its  effect 
upon  continental  nations.  The  name  of  England  or  Eng- 
1  aland  came  from  the  North,  from  the  province  of  Angeln, 
which  was  a  part  of  Denmark  until  our  own  times.  The 
Angles  gave  to  the  land  their  language  also,  which  was 
further  strengthened  by  a  later  infusion  of  the  Danish 
tongue;  so  that  wherever  the  English  language  shall  be 
spoken  until  the  end  of  time,  there  will  men  mould  their 
thoughts  in  the  forms  which  the  Vikings  used,  and  express 
the  keenest  feelings  of  their  inmost  hearts  in  the  vigorous 
speech  which  the  Norsemen  taught  us,  years  before  the 
Norman  conquest. 


A  NATIUN  IN  THE  LOOM. 


11 


Having  put  the  impress  of  his  personality  so  indelibly 
upon  English  life,  it  goes  without  saying  that  the  Norse¬ 
man’s  influence  reached  America  with  the  first  Englishman 
who  landed  here,  if,  indeed,  it  had  not  been  here  already 
since  the  days  of  Eric  the  Red  among  the  Iroquois  Indians. 
But  contenting  ourselves  with  the  established  testimony  of 
history,  there  are  still  surprises  in  store  for  us.  Not  many 
of  those  who  trace  their  descent  back  to  the  Pilgrim  Fathers 
would  think  perhaps  of  ascribing  to  their  Scandinavian 
origin  any  share  of  the  character  which  made  these  pioneers 
the  moulding  and  determining  force  of  this  country’s  his¬ 
tory.  But  a  single  witness  will  establish  such  a  claim. 
John  Fiske  in  his  “  Discovery  of  America  "says:  “The  de¬ 
scendants  of  these  Northmen  (who  came  to  England)  formed 
a  very  large  proportion  of  the  population  of  the  East 
Anglian  counties,  and  consequently  of  the  men  who  founded 
New  England.  The  East  Anglian  counties  have  been  con¬ 
spicuous  for  resistance  to  tyranny  and  for  freedom  of 
thought.”  In  another  place  he  says,  “While  every  one  of 
the  forty  counties  of  England  was  represented  in  the  great 
Puritan  exodus,  the  East  Anglian  counties  contributed  to  it 
far  more  than  all  the  rest.  Perhaps  it  would  not  be  far  out 
of  the  way  to  say,  that  two-thirds  of  the  American  people 
who  can  trace  their  ancestry  to  New  England,  might  follow 
it  back  to  the  East  Anglian  shires  of  the  mother  country.” 
So  far  John  Fiske.  But  having  done  that,  it  might  be  pos¬ 
sible  for  these  same  excellent  people,  if  the  record  could 
only  be  found,  to  trace  their  descent  back  from  the 
East  Anglian  counties  to  the  mountains  and  plains  of  the 
Scandinavian  peninsulas. 

We  may  observe  then  that  the  difference  of  race  is  not  so 
great  as  we  sometimes  think.  What  wonder  is  it  that  the 
Scandinavian  immigrant  assimilates  so  readily  with  the 
native  population  in  this  country  as  he  does.  Has  he  not 
come  to  his  kith  and  kin,  to  share  with  them  in  the  fruitage 


12 


A  NATION  IN  THE  LOOM. 


of  the  early  sowing  and  careful  planting  of  liis  fathers, 
which  has  found  its  fullest  and  freest  development  in  the 
United  States?  Not  that  the  seed  has  died  or  been  de¬ 
stroyed  over  there  in  its  native  soil.  The  Scandinavian  who 
comes  here  does  not  pose  as  the  victim  of  oppression  and 
persecution  at  home.  Unlike  most  of  the  immigrants  of  his 
class,  he  is  used  to  having  a  voice  in  the  affairs  of  his 
country.  He  usually  elects  his  own  representative  to  the 
legislature,  he  manages  the  affairs  of  his  district,  town  or 
city  with  a  liberty  almost  as  great  as  our  own.  Gladstone 
calls  the  constitution  of  Norway  the  most  liberal  in  all  the 
world.  The  burdens  of  public  responsibility  which  come  to 
the  Scandinavian  on  his  arrival  to  America  are  not  new 
therefore,  and  to  his  honor  be  it  said  that  he  appreciates 
their  importance  quite  as  much  as  many  of  those  avIio  are 
born  here.  He  soon  learns  to  think  of  this  country  as  his 
own.  In  the  hour  of  peril  when  this  nation  called  upon 
its  sons  to  save  its  life,  the  Norsemen  who  had  made 
their  homes  here  responded  as '  freely  to  the  call  as  those 
who  knew  no  other  land,  and  gave  their  lives  for  their 
adopted  country  as  cheerfully  as  these. 

In  speaking  of  the  development  of  the  Scandinavians  in 
the  United  States,  it  must  be  evident,  therefore,  that  the 
premises  from  which  Ave  start  are  very  different  from  those 
in  the  case  of  almost  any  other  foreigners  among  us;  for 
the  development  of  the  qualities  which  many  of  them  bring 
from  their  native  lands  would  mean  anything  but  the  peace, 
prosperity  or  happiness  of  this.  But  the  Scan  din  avian, 
however  crude  or  untutored  he  may  appear,  is  recognized 
even  by  those  who  love  him  least  as  having  in  him  the 
elements  that  are  the  terror  of  evil  doers.  When  the  an¬ 
archists  of  Haymarket  fame  Avere  on  trial  for  their  lives  in 
this  city,  their  counsel  requested  that  no  Scandinavian 
should  be  accepted  on  the  jury,  saying,  that  he  would  chal¬ 
lenge  every  talesman  of  Norse  blood  on  the  ground  of  his 


A  NATION  IN  THE  LOOM. 


13 


nationality.  The  Scandinavians  everywhere  felt  compli¬ 
mented  by  the  challenge,  and  the  lawyer  was  certainly 
correct  in  his  estimate  of  them. 

The  most  serious  charge  that  can  be  brought  against  the 
Scandinavians  in  this  country  as  a  class  is,  that  they  are 
behind  the  times.  Since  the  days  of  Gustavus  Adolphus  and 
his  work  for  the  Reformation  the  northern  nations  have  had 
little  influence  upon  the  life  of  Europe.  Charles  XII.  of 
Sweden  for  a  time  disturbed  the  peace  of  Russia,  and 
Napoleon  managed  to  mix  up  the  Scandinavian  countries 
in  his  difficulties  with  England,  but  with  these  exceptions 
no  great  interest  has  been  felt  for  the  world  outside  by  the 
people  of  the  North.  While  the  great  world  south  of  him 
was  moving  forward  through  revolutions  of  governments 
and  of  thought,  the  Scandinavian  sat  still  at  home,  ponder¬ 
ing  the  question  how  the  stones  around  him  might  be 
made  bread.  In  the  onward  march  of  the  world  he  was 
almost  forgotten  up  there  in  the  frozen  north,  and  in  his 
isolation  his  ideas  and  his  interests  narrowed  down  to  the 
affairs  of  his  own  little  circle,  which  to  him  became  of 
supreme  importance.  Class  distinctions,  almost  as  severely 
marked  as  by  the  Hindu  caste  system,  gradually  divided 
each  little  community,  and  they  still  remain  in  a  great 
measure,  in  spite  of  the  modern  renaissance  which  the 
Scandinavian  countries  have  experienced  during  the  present 
century.  In  religious  affairs  there  has  been  until  recently 
a  regime  as  autocratic  almost  as  that  of  the  Czar.  All 
Scandinavians  since  1550  until  the  latter  half  of  this  cen¬ 
tury  were  by  reason  of  their  nativity  members  of  the 
Lutheran  church.  When  one  ventures  to  separate  himself 
from  that  church  he  voluntarily  ostracises  himself  from  the 
society  in  which  he  has  had  a  standing  hitherto,  and  is 
made  to  feel  that  his  religious  views  are  revolutionary  and 
anarchistic,  refusing  obedience  to  appointed  authority  in 
spiritual  things.  This  pressure  unquestionably  hinders 


n 


A  NATION  IN  THE  LOOM. 


the  work  of  the  reformed  churches  in  Scandinavia  no  less 
perhaps  than  the  intolerant  dogmatism  of  the  State  Church, 
which  unblushingly  arrogates  to  itself  the  monopoly  of 
Christian  truth  and  the  right  to  teach  it.  These  character¬ 
istics  have  been  intensified  and  stereotyped  by  the  isolation 
of  the  people,  so  that  the  work  of  bringing  those  who  come 
to  this  country  into  sympathy  with  the  social  and  religious 
ideas  of  life  here  must  of  necessity  be  a  work  of  time  and  of 
patient  education. 

One  of  the  difficulties,  perhaps  the  greatest,  in  the  way  of 
such  endeavors  is  the  common  practice  of  all  our  foreigners 
to  colonize,  both  in  the  city  and  in  the  country,  thus  creat¬ 
ing  for  themselves  an  environment  which  perpetuates 
indefinitely  the  alien  characteristics  peculiar  to  them.  The 
foreigner  remains  a  foreigner  still.  He  has  simply  trans¬ 
planted  the  environment  in  which  he  was  born,  minus  some 
of  its  burdens,  from  the  Old  World  to  the  New,  and  he  may 
continue  the  remainder  of  his  life  in  the  midst  of  these 
surroundings  as  much  an  alien,  right  here  in  Chicago,  as  if 
he  had  never  crossed  the  Atlantic  Ocean.  He  looks  with 
distrust  and  with  contempt  upon  the  institutions  of  this  land 
because  he  does  not  understand  them,  and  he  is  suspicious 
of  every  stranger  who  is  host  is  (an  enemy)  until  he  knows 
him. 

The  foreign  settlements  in  the  country  districts  are,  if 
possible,  still  more  unaffected  by  the  influence  of  their  larger 
enyironment  than  the  foreign  colonies  in  the  cities.  In 
many  portions  of  our  land  it  is  possible  to  trayel  for  miles 
through  a  foreign  country,  as  far  as  population  is  concerned, 
and  not  seldom  is  the  second  generation  as  thoroughly 
foreign  as  their  parents,  so  that  an  American  may  need 
an  interpreter  at  every  house  if  he  intends  to  transact 
business  there.  Under  such  conditions  it  is  very  evident 
that  the  moral,  intellectual,  or  religious  development  of  these 
communities  would  be  the  work  of  ages,  if  dependent  upon 


A  NATION  IN  THE  LOOM. 


15 


the  forces  within  themselves.  The  cultivating  power  must 
come  from  without  and  be  shot  through  and  through  them, 
so  that  the  individuals  and  the  families  in  them  may  some- 

t 

how  come  under  the  influence  of  that  larger  environment 
lying  outside  of  their  immediate  colony,  or  the  years  will 
only  perpetuate  the  conditions  which  in  our  day  have  become 
not  only  interesting  but  very  serious  social  problems  for 
Americans  to  solve. 

Such  an  outside  penetrating  power  is  the  American  public 
school.  Here  is  an  institution  which,  whatever  else  it  does 
not  do,  certainly  fosters  a  spirit  of  patriotism  and  of  loyalty 
to  the  flag  that  floats  above  it.  No  other  land  can  be  as 
dear  to  the  children  educated  here  as  this  land;  no  language 
will  be  more  thoroughly  theirs  than  the  language  of  their 
books  and  teachers;  and  thus  it  will  be  found  that  in  anv 
foreign  community  where  the  children  attend  the  public 
schools,  American  ideas  and  standards  of  life  are  permeat¬ 
ing  it  with  a  power  which  must  eventually  change  it  into 
an  American  community. 

So  well  is  this  understood  by  those  who  are  the  guides 
and  teachers  of  certain  foreign  nationalities  among  us,  and 
who  would,  if  they  could,  keep  them  forever  intact  from  the 
influence  of  American  life,  that  they  spare  no  pains  to  shield 
them  from  it,  and  withdraw  their  children  and  youth 
from  the  teaching  of  the  public  school,  putting  them  into 
schools  of  their  own  where  their  foreign  ideas  and  their 
foreign  tongues  may  be  perpetuated  in  the  next  generation. 
This  is  the  meaning  of  Protestant  parochial  schools,  no 
matter  what  other  explanation  of  them  is  offered. 

The  Scandinavians  do  not  fall  under  censure  in  this  mat¬ 
ter.  They  have  not  as  a  rule  set  up  their  own  schools  in 
competition  with  the  public  school,  but  they  have  schools  of 
a  higher  grade.  Most  of  these  were  first  established  to 
furnish  ministers  for  their  own  churches.  Gradually,  how- 
ever,  they  have  come  to  feel  the  pressure  of  their  larger 


16 


A  NATION  IN  THE  LOOM. 


environment,  so  that  their  curriculum  is  now  usually 
arranged  with  a  view  to  giving  all  the  inhabitants  of  the 
entire  community  the  benefit  of  their  instruction.  Thus  in 
the  Gustavus  Adolphus  College  in  St.  Peter,  Minn.,  repre¬ 
sentatives  of  seven  different  nationalities  were  in  attendance 
last  year;  while  the  Swedish  college  in  Pock  Island,  Ill., 
had  fifty-one  Americans,  fifteen  Germans,  two  Persians  and 
two  Hebrews  among  their  five  hundred  students.  The 
Luther  College  in  Decorah,  la,  claims  to  send  more  young 
men  to  the  Johns  Hopkins  University  in  Baltimore  for  post¬ 
graduate  study  than  any  other  western  college.  Several  of 
these  Scandinavian  schools  have  come  to  see  that  they  must 
adapt  themselves  more  and  more  to  the  demands  upon 
them  from  the  entire  community,  and  open  the  doors  to  all 
applicants  for  an  education  without  regard  to  nationality. 
The  principal  of  one  of  these  schools  writes:  “  Our  school 
is  not  a  Scandinavian,  but  an  American  institution  of  learn¬ 
ing  in  the  fullest  sense  of  that  word.”  Perhaps  in  no 
other  sphere  is  the  development  of  the  Scandinavians  into 
Americans  better  illustrated  than  in  this  evolution  of  their 
higher  schools,  for  this  tendency  is  not  sporadic,  but 
general;  and  when  Ave  remember  that  there  are  fifty-one 
such  institutions  in  the  Nortlnvest,  with  five  thousand  young 
men  and  Avomen  studying  in  them,  Ave  begin  to  realize  their 
importance,  Avith  their  tendency  toAvards  a  universal  and 
liberal  education,  as  factors  in  the  development  of  the 
Scandinavians  in  this  country. 

It  has  already  been  intimated  that  this  eA^olution  of  the 
Scandinavian  schools  has  been  compelled  by  their  environ¬ 
ment  in  American  communities  more  than  by  any  inherent 
desire  of  their  own.  One  of  these  influences  lias  been  the 
attractions  Avhicli  American  schools  and  colleges  in  the 
NortliAvest  have  especially  offered  to  the  Scandinavian  young 
people.  The  University  of  Minnesota  for  example,  offers 
an  attractive  course  in  Scandinavian  literature  under  a  very 


A  NATION  IN  THE  LOOM. 


17 


capable  teacher  in  that  department,  and  some  effort  in  the 
same  direction  is  made  by  the  Chicago  University.  Carle- 
ton  College  has  taken  a  still  more  decided  step  by  estab¬ 
lishing  a  complete  Scandinavian  department  for  the  benefit 
of  the  young  people  of  that  race  who  may  prefer  to  attend  a 
purely  American  institution. 

Another  influence  wThich  is  permeating  the  densest  Scan¬ 
dinavian  communities  and  is  reaching  the  most  isolated 
families  is  exerted  by  the  Scandinavian  press.  The  im¬ 
portance  of  this  factor  will  be  understood,  at  least  in  part, 
when  we  know  how  generally  the  Scandinavians  are  a  read¬ 
ing  people.  According  to  our  last  census  there  are  933,849 
of  them  in  the  United  States  who  wrere  born  across  the  sea. 
The  one  hundred  and  twenty-seven  newspapers  published 
for  their  benefit  here,  have  a  circulation  of  885,549.  That 
is  to  say,  if  the  immigrants  were  the  only  subscribers  to 
these  papers,  every  one  of  them  with  the  exception  of  about 
50,000  would  be  a  subscriber  to  a  newspaper'  in  his  own 
tongue;  and  it  may  be  added  that  these  50,000  really  repre¬ 
sent  the  children  for  whom  almost  nothing  seems  to  be  done 
in  this  particular.  Papers  like  the  Youth's  Companion  and 
St.  Nicholas  are  almost  unknown  to  the  Scandinavian  chil¬ 
dren  in  America,  but  thus  is  the  second  generation  woven 
into  our  social  fabric.  It  is  evident,  of  course,  that  these 
one  hundred  and  twenty-seven  Scandinavian  newspapers  are 
read  by  as  many  of  those  who.  are  born  here,  as  by  those  of 
the  other  class,  for  it  is  usually  estimated  by  newspaper 
men  that  every  copy  of  a  weekly  paper  is  read  on  the 
average  by  five  persons.  No  less  than  4,427,740  Scandi¬ 
navians,  therefore,  in  this  country  would  be  constant  readers 
of  their  own  papers.  As  there  are  only  half  as  many  persons 
here  who  are  able  to  read  the  Scandinavian  languages,  it 
may  be  concluded  that  this  entire  people  is  keeping  abreast 
with  the  history  of  the  great  world  outside  their  own  im¬ 
mediate  circle,  however  narrow  and  contracted  that  may 
be. 


18 


A  NATION  IN  THE  LOOM. 


Studying  a  little  closer  the  influences  exerted  by  the 
Scandinavian  newspapers,  we  find  that  they  are  naturally 
published  in  the  centers  of  that  population.  Twenty-four 
of  them  are  published  in  Chicago  with  a  circulation  of 
307,675,  and  twenty-six  in  the  twin  cities  of  Minnesota  with 
a  circulation  of  222,050.  About  half  of  the  Scandinavian 
newspapers,  therefore,  are  published  in  the  three  cities  of  §it. 
Paul,  Minneapolis  and  Chicago,  and  the  readers  of  these 
papers,  certainly  not  less  than  1,000,000  people,  must 
come  to  feel  the  throb  of  life  in  these  great  American  cities. 
We  have  seen  that  it  is  possible  to  find  communities  in  the 
city  as  foreign  in  life  and  thought  as  those  beyond  the  sea, 
and  if  the  influences  that  are  scattered  from  the  centers  of 
our  population  receive  their  inspiration  from  such  surround¬ 
ings,  then  the  newspapers  cannot,  from  an  American  point 
of  view,  be  a  very  helpful  factor  in  our  problem;  but  the 
inspiration  of  the  newspapers  does  not  come  from  that 
source.  Their  editors,  with  very  rare  exceptions,  are  men 
in  hearty  sympathy  with  American  institutions,  and  in  full¬ 
est  touch  with  nearly  every  phase  of  American  life. 

The  papers  among  the  Scandinavians,  to  a  far  greater 
extent  than  among  the  Americans,  are  the  guides  and 
teachers  of  their  constituency  in  nearly  all  concerns  of  life. 
In  matters  political,  social  and  financial,  they  receive  their 
inspiration  largely  from  their  better  American  contempo¬ 
raries,  thus  bringing  their  readers  under  the  best  influences 
of  the  American  press.  In  religious  matters,  however,  this 
is  not  so,  for  here  the  spirit  of  the  Church  holds  sway. 
This  is,  of  course,  to  be  expected  in  the  religious  journals  of 
the  Lutheran  Church,  in  which  the  impression  is  generally 
made,  that  the  borders  of  the  Kingdom  of  God  upon  the 
earth  do  not  extend  much  beyond  the  lines  of  Lutheran  faith 
for  any  man,  and  certainly  not  for  a  Scandinavian.  But  the 
secular  papers  also  feel  the  power  of  the  Church,  and  are 
practically  controlled  by  her  spirit.  Her  schools  and 


A  NATION  IN  THE  LOOM. 


19 


seminaries  find  generous  space  and  frequent  mention  in 
their  columns,  while  those  outside  of  her  domain  are  quietly 
ignored.  The  health  and  movements  of  her  ministers  and 
laymen  are  supposed  to  be  items  of  general  interest  to  their 
readers,  while  those  wrho  have  ventured  to  formally  leave  the 
communion  of  the  Church  have  thereby  sold  their  birthright 
and  forfeited  all  further  recognition.  To  their  excuse  it 
may  be  said  that  in  these  respects  the  newspapers  only 
reflect  the  sentiments  of  the  great  majority  of  their  readers, 
and  for  doing  this  newspapers  usually  have  no  apologies  to 
make  in  any  tongue. 

The  situation  as  here  described  may  serve  to  show  the 
importance  of  an  independent  press,  a  journalism  completely 
free  from  the  least  suspicion  of  spiritual  tyranny.  There 
are  such  journals  among  the  Scandinavians.  One  or  two 
of  them  are  towers  of  strength,  but  the  greater  number  are 
feefily  supported  by  a  few  dissenters  sprinkled  over  this 
entire  land.  And  yet  their  influence  is  not  unimportant. 
In  the  minds  of  their  readers  they  open  windows  that  have 
grown  dim  by  the  dust  of  ages;  from  the  musty  chambers 
they  clear  the  cobwebs  that  no  breath  of  air  has  disturbed 
before.  They  give  new  visions  of  a  life  much  richer  than 
that  of  the  Fathers,  and  in  this  work  they  join  from  a 
Christian  standpoint  the  stream  of  thought  and  aspiration  in 
Scandinavian  literature,  which  for  the  last  century  has 
broken  away  from  the  narrow  bounds  which  hitherto  held  it; 
but  mostly  in  channels  realistic,  un-Christian  and  often 
infidel. 

The  work  which  these  papers  are  doing  should  be  en¬ 
couraged  more  than  it  is,  for  it  means  the  emancipation  of 
a  race,  and  a  larger  life  for  our  republic. 

It  remains  to  speak  of  another  factor  in  the  process  of 
weaving  the  Scandinavian  fibre  into  our  social  fabric.  That 
is  the  Church.  The  only  Church  which  until  recently  lias 
had  the  moulding  and  determining  influence  on  the  Scandi- 


20 


A  NATION  IN  THE  LOOM. 


navian  people  is  the  Lutheran.  For  three  hundred  and 
fifty  years  or  more  she  has  held  undisputed  sway  over  their 
spiritual  and  intellectual  life.  The  result  fills  one  with 
sadness.  In  England  and  America  men  have  generally 
come  to  believe  the  Church  of  Christ  the  most  potent  power 
for  the  help  and  uplift  of  every  man  wrho  comes  under  its 
influence.  In  Scandinavia  they  have  come  to  think  that 
before  a  man  can  be  lifted  out  of  his  narrow,  selfish  and 
often  stupid  views  of  life,  he  must  come  out  from  the 
Church,  for  it  is  her  influence  that  is  crushing  all  higher 
life  out  of  the  people.  This  explains  the  exodus  from  the 
Church,  on  the  one  hand,  of  the  men  who  are  the  intellect¬ 
ual  leaders  of  the  North  to-day,  the  writers  of  its  literature, 
and  who  go  into  infidelity ;  on  the  other  hand  of  those  who 
still  believe  that  in  Christ  alone  is  life,  but  failing  to  find  it 
in  the  forms  and  ceremonies  of  a  lifeless  church  come  out 
from  it,  and  are  like  sheep  having  no  shepherd,  though 
looking  for  the  true  fold  of  Christ.  The  first  class,  the 
literati,  have  frankly  and  almost  unanimously  bidden  Chris¬ 
tianity  farewell.  Thinking  the  whole  of  it  as  hollow  and 
emasculated  as  the  only  representative  of  it  familiar  to  them, 
they  have  no  use  for  it  themselves,  and  only  warnings  against 
it  for  others.  Apart  from  this  hostility  to  the  Church  their 
endeavors  seem  to  be  on  the  side  of  good.  In  books  and 
lectures  they  labor  enthusiastically  for  the  social  and  intellect¬ 
ual  elevation  of  the  people.  The  second  class,  those  who  for 
conscience  sake  have  separated  themselves,  the  dissenters, 
have  naturally  no  sympathy  with  this  intellectual  movement. 
They  look  with  distrust  upon  an  education  with  Christ  left 
out  of  it.  While,  therefore,  they  have  broken  with  the 
Church  because  of  her  lack  of  life,  they  are  no  less  suspi¬ 
cious  of  the  schools,  for  learning  to  them  means  only  the 
hindrance  and  death  of  spiritual  life.  They  do  not  want 
their  preachers  to  be  taught  by  men,  but  only  by  the  Holy 
Spirit.  All  other  learning  is  vain  and  puffeth  up.  This 


A  NATION  IN  THE  LOOM. 


21 


prejudice  against  an  educated  ministry  is  greatly  hindering 
the  growth  of  the  free  church  work  in  Denmark  and  Norway, 
and  among  these  nationalities  here.  In  Sweden,  however, 
this  feeling  is  rapidly  disappearing  before  the  influence  of 
educated  leaders  and  excellent  free  church  seminaries. 

It  h  as  seemed  necessary  to  point  out  these  two  very  oppo¬ 
site  results  of  the  rule  of  the  Lutheran  Church  in  Scandinavia 
in  order  to  understand  how  much  she  may  be  relied  on  as  a 
factor  in  the  development  of  the  Scandinavians  in  this  coun¬ 
try,  for  as  she  is  there  so  she  is  here,  only  modified  by  the 
irresistible  influence  of  her  environment. 

The  bane  of  the  spiritual  power  of  the  Lutheran  Church 
is  this:  She  exists  for  herself  and  not  for  the  people,  she  is 
not  the  means  to  an  end,  but  is  herself  the  end.  She  bears 
testimony  to  this  in  her  attitude  of  opposition  to  every 
effort  made  by  other  Christian  Churches  to  elevate  and 
convert  the  Scandinavian  people.  One  of  her  ministers, 
writing  some  years  ago,  and  deploring  the  spiritual  condi¬ 
tion  of  his  Norwegian  countrymen  here  in  Chicago,  said, 
that  of  the  40,000  of  them  in  the  city  then,  all  baptized  and 
by  law  made  members  of  the  Church,  not  more  than  5,000 
could  be  found  in  her  places  of  worship.  Yet  he  branded 
every  attempt  by  Christians  of  other  denominations  to  draw 
some  of  the  remaining  35,000  away  from  the  saloons,  beer 
gardens  and  Sunday  picnics,  where  he  said  large  numbers  of 
them  were  to  be  found,  as  base  and  un-Christian  efforts  to 
proselyte,  and  steal  them  away  from  their  spiritual  mother. 
This  is  the  spirit  of  the  whole  Church.  In  the  first 
meeting  of  her  united  factions  in  America  in  1890,  the 
Norwegian  United  Church  passed  some  resolutions,  especi¬ 
ally  aimed  at  our  Congregational  work,  condemning  and 
vigorously  protesting  against  all  missionary  efforts  of  other 
denominations  among  the  Scandinavians. 

Lutheran  preachers  never  miss  an  opportunity  to  tell  us 
that  the  education  and  spiritual  training  of  the  foreigners, 


22 


A  NATION  IN  THE  LOOM. 


is  tlieir  business  and  not  ours.  But,  in  view  of  the  results 
of  that  training  in  their  old  home,  it  seems  a  question  quite 
fair  to  ask,  if  we  want  them  to  continue  that  work  here. 
When  our  lamented  brother,  Rev.  M.  W.  Montgomery,  turned 
the  search-light  of  his  book  “A  Wind  From  the  Holy 
Spirit  in  Sweden  and  Norway,”  upon  the  religious  condi¬ 
tions  in  the  Church  of  those  countries,  and  showed  to  the 
world  what  it  really  was,  it  caused  a  commotion  in  that 
Church  on  both  sides  of  the  sea,  which  he  hardly  had  ex¬ 
pected.  When  the  light  shines  in  upon  a  darkness  that  has 
not  been  broken  for  three  hundred  years,  it  wakes  to  activity 
many  drowsy  creatures  who  vociferously  protest  against  the 
intrusion.  The  development  of  the  Scandinavians  in  this 
country  towards  the  ideas  of  our  American  life  have  been 
in  spite  of  the  influence  of  their  mother  Church,  and  not 
because  of  its  help.  Serious  as  this  charge  may  be,  it  is 
amply  proven  by  the  words  and  works  of  their  teachers  and 
preachers. 

In  view  of  these  facts,  what  is  to  be  the  attitude  of  Amer- 
can  Christians  towards  these  people?  Must  we  ask  per¬ 
mission  from  the  Lutheran  Church,  who  claims  to  own 
them,  before  we  try  to  save  those  who  are  yet  in  their  sins? 
Shall  they  perish  because  they  find  not  the  way  to  God 
through  the  portals  of  this  particular  church?  Need  we 
fear  the  charge  of  proselyting,  when  we  labor  simply  to 
win  men  from  the  kingdom  of  darkness  to  the  kingdom  of 
light?  Our  Master’s  command  was:  “  Go  teach  all  nations,” 
and,  lest  we  forget  to  go,  he  graciously  brings  the  oppor¬ 
tunity  right  to  our  doors.  Again,  it  seems  as  if  the  great 
shepherd  of  the  sheep  had  especially  committed  to  our  care 
that  large  number  of  earnest  Scandinavian  Christians  who 
for  conscience  sake  have  separated  themselves  from  the 
Church  of  their  fathers,  and  who  have  no  other  affiliation. 
They  stand  nearest  to  us  in  their  conceptions  of  faith  and 
church  polity.  They  themselves  have  recognized  this  kin¬ 
ship  of  spirit  by  repeated  expressions  of  confidence  in  us. 


A  NATION  IN  THE  LOOM. 


23 


Our  Seminary  is  the  only  one  in  all  the  world  to  whom  the 
Danes  and  Norwegians  of  these  independent  churches  on 
both  sides  of  the  sea  can  go  for  an  educated  ministry.  The 
influence  of  our  work  for  them  has  long  been  recognized 
both  by  friends  and  foes  as  making  for  a  Christianity  in 
closest  sympathy  with  Congregational  methods,  and  for  a 
citizenship  in  touch  with  American  institutions. 

We  are  not  deceived  by  our  desires  or  our  hopes;  we  have 
no  thought  that  our  labors  will  overturn  nations  in  a  day, 
nor  that  on  us  is  laid  the  task  of  setting  all  things  right. 
But  having  come  into  the  fellowship  of  the  great  needs  of 
these  people,  having  seen  the  possibilities  for  their  develop¬ 
ment  along  all  the  lines  of  a  better  and  higher  life,  we  re¬ 
joice  that  to  us  it  is  given  into  each  of  these  factors  of  the 
school,  of  the  press  and  of  the  Church  of  Christ,  to  throw 
the  influence  of  an  institution  like  this  not  only,  but  the 
moral  force  of  the  churches  behind  it  as  well.  Perhaps 
our  share  in  the  shaping  and  moulding  of  the  people  for 
whom  we  work  may  not  be  large,  nor  greatly  esteemed.  But 
we  have  the  satisfaction  of  giving  expression  both  in  word 
and  deed  to  the  conviction  of  our  hearts,  that  no  other  power 
on  earth  can  lift  a  people  into  the  fullest  and  richest  expe¬ 
riences  of  life,  political,  intellectual,  social  or  spiritual,  like 
the  Gospel  of  Jesus  Christ;  for  it  is  the  power  of  God  unto 
salvation  unto  everyone  that  believeth,  to  the  Jew  first  and 
also  to  the  Greek.  And  He  when  He  is  lifted  up  shall  draw 
all  men  unto  Him. 


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